Abilities

The current issue with this version is that Nighthawk is required to jungle by virtue of Summoner's Rift's map, which isn't good design. Exploring options for having Nighthawk capable of jumping on the ground, but it's hard to cover all the nuances.

Wallcrawler

Innate:Nighthawk'scannot move while on the ground and instead moves by crawling along terrain or structures. If Nighthawk issues a movement command to a piece of terrain that is out of reach, he will Swoop, dashing to the location. The dash speed scales with Nighthawk'scurrent attack speed.

Swoopingattacks all enemies he passes through. The damage can critically strike and applies on-hit effects to the first enemy hit.

Abduct

Active:Nighthawk's next Swoop within the next 6 seconds will grab the first target he hits, carrying them to his destination and dealing them bonus magic damage on arrival.

Magic Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+50% AP)

Go For The Jugular

Passive:Nighthawk's deal bonus magic damage and restores health on-hit, increased by 1% for every 1% of his missing health.

Bonus Magic Damage: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+10% AP)

Active:Nighthawk savages his target, attacking them a number of times in 0.4 second period. These attacks deal only 55% AD physical damage to non-minions, though on-hit effects are applied in full.

Number of Attacks: 3 / 3 / 4 / 4 / 5

Ability Details

Enemy Unit

In this version, Nighthawk has a base movement speed of 110 and must rank his W ability first.

Thirst

Innate:Nighthawk's basic attacks deals 5 + (2.5 × level) (+10% AP) bonus magic damage, increased by 1% for every 1% of his missing health, and heal him for the same amount.

The issue with this version is having an ability that only benefits another ability.

Abduct

Active:Nighthawk's next One Fell Swoop will carry the first enemy hit and carry them to his destination, dealing them bonus magic damage on arrival.

Magic Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+50% AP)

Abduct

Active:Nighthawk's next attack or One Fell Swoop within the next 6 seconds is empowered, also dealing them bonus magic damage.

Magic Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+50% AP)

Basic Attack:Nighthawk benefits from bonus range and places his target in front of him

One Fell Swoop:Nighthawk will carry the first enemy hit and carry them to his destination.

One Fell Swoop

STATIC COOLDOWN: 4

Active:Nighthawk dashes toward the target location or terrain, attacking all enemies he passes through. The damage can critically strike and applies on-hit effects to the first enemy hit.

If Nighthawk hits terrain or a structure, he binds to it, gaining Wall Crawler and reducing the cooldown of One Fell Swoop to (1 ÷ current Attack Speed) seconds.

Wall Crawler:Nighthawk's base movement speed is increased but he can only move along terrain.

Base Speed: 350 / 375 / 400 / 425 / 450

Go For The Jugular

Active:Nighthawk savages his target, attacking them a number of times in 0.4 second period. These attacks deal only 55% AD physical damage to non-minions, though on-hit effects are applied in full.

Number of Attacks: 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Ability Details

Enemy Unit

Catch The Wind

First Cast:Nighthawk screeches in the target direction, emitting a wide pulse that gradually expands in width as it travels the full length of the map. Enemy units hit are detected for 3 seconds, refreshing as they move. If Nighthawkdetects at least one champion, he can recast the ability once.

Passive:Nighthawk is offered a selection of champions to take down, which is hidden while in combat with an enemy champion. Once selected, there's an 8 second delay before the mark is primed. Once primed, the target is detected for 0.5 seconds every 10 seconds, reduced by 1.58% for every 1% of their missing health, until they are permanently revealed below 40% of their maximum health. While his target is at or below that threshold, he may cast One Feel Swooponce.

Active:Nighthawk dashes onto the target detected champion, dealing magic damage. For the next 8 seconds, Nighthawk can Swoop to his prey, with the duration refreshing while he remains in combat with them.

Magic Damage: 100 / 160 / 220 (+60% AP)

Development

Evelynn is believed to suffer from a mild form of vampirism. Regardless of whether or not this is true, it implies that vampirism does exist in Valoran. I thought a night hunter/stalker would be a really nice theme for a champion.

I'm thinking more along the lines of Man-Bat in appearance, because it's a much richer silhouette than a man or woman with pointy wings and a cloak (and we don't want this champion to get confused with the Blood Mage Who Definitely Isn't a Vampire.

I want him to feel stronger the lower health he is - to have things that scale with his missing health, rather than his opponents.

The original design was almost a Warwick relaunch, with strategically identical abilities on every button (although this wasn't intentional and not even something I noticed until I set about relaunching the champion).

His general theme is an assassin/ambush champion, but I want it to be distinct from Kha'Zix or Rengar, and I was allured to how bats/wyverns crawl along buildings - and so a theme of a wallcrawler emerged.

First Pass

The following is my first attempt at relaunching Nighthawk, and stays close to the original design.

Apex Predator

After using an ability, Nighthawk instantly enters stealth for 3 seconds. While stealthed, Nighthawk gains the ability to activate an alternate set of basic abilities. The two ability-sets do not share cooldowns, and his standard abilities will continue to count down while his empowered abilities are available.
Nighthawk can only trigger Apex Predator once every 12 seconds. This is not affected by cooldown reduction, but will refresh at double speed while Nighthawk is not visible to the enemy team.

Ability Details

While stealthed, Nighthawk's screen will darken similar to how allies experience Nocturne'sParanoia.

One Fell Swoop will not stop upon colliding with an enemy champion. Additionally, if Nighthawk collides with terrain, he will stick to it for 0.75 seconds. During this time, he can active One Fell Swoop again for no additional cost. The second activation behaves like the standard skill.
One Fell Swoop will not break stealth until Nighthawk lands, although he will leave a visible blur particle.

Ability Details

One Fell Swoop is one of the longest ranged dashes in the game. The trade-off is that it cannot pass through terrain.

When stuck to terrain, Nighthawk's origin is slightly offset. This is to reduce the risk of clipping when making the second cast.

Using One Fell Swoop does not refresh the stealth duration, and it can expire during the skill. The choice to retain the stealth was for thematic purposes - the dark shadow that moves across the camera in horror films.

Icon courtesy of Dota 2.

Echo Location

RANGE: 1100

COOLDOWN: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

Active: Nighthawk emits a pulse that reveals the first enemy champion it hits for 3 seconds. The duration of the sight is refreshed if the target moves. While Nighthawk has sight of an enemy this way, he is granted bonus movement speed and attack speed.

Echo Location is considerably wider and travels the full length of the map, revealing all enemy champions hit.
Casting Echo Location will not break stealth, although Nighthawk will leave a visible blur particle.

Ability Details

I am undecided if this ability should break stealth or not.

Echo Location is visible through the fog of war (although all skill shots were supposedly "fixed" to do this as part of Season Three - but I'm not convinced).

The Apex Predator effect is the only non-ultimate global, excluding innate abilities.

The sight debuff is an example of an anti-pattern, which are generally discouraged in champion design. However, as the effect is non-damaging and non-disruptive: I feel that it is in good taste and contributes to Nighthawk's theme.

Icon courtesy of Dota 2.

Blood Frenzy

RANGE: 600

COOLDOWN: 90 / 80 / 70

Nighthawk blinks and binds to the target enemy champion for 3 seconds, damaging them 10 times at 0.3 second intervals for a percentage of their maximum health. This damage will in turn be increased by 1% for every 1% of Nighthawk's missing health. Nighthawk heals for 50% of the damage dealt. The damage is calculated with every strike.

Nighthawk cannot be targeted by his target for the duration.

The target is slowed by 70% for the duration, which decays over a further second after the effect ends.

As the damage is calculated with every tick -- not solely when the ability is applied -- it means that as Nighthawk heals or takes damage, the ability deals less or more damage.

This ability is classified as leashed damage over time, and cannot be removed by Cleanse or Quicksilver.

This skill is intended to feel similar to Dr. Mundo'sSadism, except that it drains the health from Nighthawk's target rather than using regeneration. The ideal is to use the skill when you're low, to maximize the damage.

A minor rework to his innate and Devastating Charge ability, inspired by Mercury from SMITE.

Jarvan IV

A minor rework that aims to shift Jarvan's gameplay from a generic diver to a Commander.

Kled

Part of my Mounted Champions Overhaul, this rework pushes Kled into more of a flanker role - with added trampling and better jousting.

Malphite

A suite of changes with only one new ability, but it comes together to have much more purposeful gameflow.

Rammus

A complete relaunch that dials up Rammus' niche as the League's hyper mobile tank.

Sejuani

Taking off from where her Tank Rework left her, this update gives her a new ultimate. I would like to re-address Sejuani in the future as part of my Mounted Champions Overhaul with the intent to play up her Warband theme.

Skarner

A fairly substantial rework that takes on elements from SMITE's Khepri. He still does Skarner things, but with more high points and balance levers.

Udyr

A suite of changes that aims to give Udyr things to do, as well as making Phoenix distinct from Tiger.

Xin Zhao

Under construction.

Wukong

Under construction.

Zac

A small rework to address the overlap between his Elastic Slingshot and Let's Bounce abilities.

Dr. Mundo

A full relaunch that explores Dr. Mundo self-experimentation theme.

Garen

A new Courage ability.

Mordekaiser

A substantial rework that aims to keep the Iron Revenant doing Mordekaiser things, but with more points of high satisfaction and less frustration for his opponents.

Olaf

On the scale between a rework and a relaunch, Olaf has gained Tryndamere's ultimate.

Rumble

Part of my Mounted Champions Overhaul, absorbs elements removed from Kled and was heavily inspired by Overwatch's D-va.

Swain

Under construction.

Volibear

Under construction.

Yorick

A minor rework to his ultimate that makes it less dependent on Riot's rather lacking pet AI system, inspired by HOTS' Nezeebo.

Diana

A minor set of power redistribution changes that aims to dial back her explosive damage and push her more into fighter territory.

Irelia

A full relaunch that retains most elements of her existing kit, but with more room for skill expression.

Jax

Under construction.

Lee Sin

A moderate scale rework that aims to cut away some of Lee Sin's unnecessary strengths while preserving his unique position as the Enchanter Fighter.

Nocturne

A moderate scale rework that addresses some of Nocturne's design flaws.

Pantheon

A moderate scale rework that gives Pantheon a new ultimate and role within a team.

Riven

A moderate scale rework that addresses Riven's oppressive mobility and crowd control when facing other melee champions. She now utilizes energy and enemies have a means to mitigate her damage.

Shyvana

Shyvana's Dragon Form now operates similar to Skaarl or D-va's Mech, providing her a guaranteed window to fight as well as making it impossible to die as a dragon.

Singed

Under construction.

Tryndamere

A fairly substantial rework that changes Tryndamere's role for the team. While Olaf has taken his current ultimate, his new ultimate fills a very similar niche.

Slayers

Corki

This moderate scale rework changes Corki to utilize heat as well as addressing the less-than-interesting Hextech Munitions innate ability that was added in his previous rework.

Ezreal

Under construction.

Jayce

Part of my 7-Ability Champion Overhaul project, this substantial rework turns Jayce into a melee-only champion.

Kog'Maw

A moderate scale rework that aims to restore some of satisfaction of Kog'Maw's previous rework while addressing his ability to simply kill anyone based on a stat-check.

Urgot

Rebranded as a Chem Baron of Zaun, this substantial rework was inspired by HOTS' Sergeant Hammer and Ragnarok.

Varus

A moderate scale rework that provides quality of life changes and power redistribution.

Vel'Koz

Under construction.

Xerath

A selection of moderate scale reworks that aims to address Xerath's current bland nature within the roster, while also restoring some of his pre-rework niche as an event horizon champion.

Ziggs

A fun idea for his Satchel Charge.

Ahri

A minor rework that aims to address the negative experiences many players have when facing Ahri, referencing the amount of auto-targeted damage.

Annie

A new Molten Shield ability, as well as changes to Tibbers that were inspired by Doom Bots.

Aurelion Sol

Aurelion Sol is now manaless. His kit already has many ways for his opponent to react to him without him running out of mana mid-fight.

Brand

A tentative rework that explores how his possessive-fire-spirit theme could be implemented, including possessing new houses and temporarily leaving his body.

Karthus

A new Wall of Pain ability that grants Karthus more power where he wants it.

Lissandra

Under construction.

Syndra

Under construction.

Viktor

Under construction.

Ashe

Under construction.

Azir

A suite of changes aimed primarily at quality of life.

Cassiopeia

A suite of changes that address her handicapping innate, Noxious Blast's poor synergy with cooldown reduction and the fact Twin Fang's combo costs so much mana.

Kayle

Under construction.

Kalista

Substantial rework that removes her one-time Oath mechanic in favour for a more avenge-fallen-allies mechanic, which is more suited for Lady Vengeance.

Kennen

Under construction.

Kindred

Removed the Bounty Hunter mechanic and instead focused on what it means to be touched by Death's Arrow. Her new ultimate is inspired by Overwatch's McCree. It's High Noon!

Quinn

Part of my 7-Ability Champion Overhaul project. Under construction.

Twisted Fate

A substantial rework to his basic abilities that makes him feel more like a Card Master and less like he's just throwing cards at you.

Akali

Inspire by Infinite Crisis, Akali's innate and third ability now vary based on how she combos her first two abilities. Her ultimate, inspired by HOTS' Valeera, is Twilight Shroud with added unbreakable stealth.

Evelynn

Rebranded as the Nightbringer, this substantial rework windows Evelynn's power via a day-night-cycle.

Fizz

While an assassin that can engage is a valid niche, Fizz's other strengths make that fantasy overkill. This change to his ultimate refocuses his objectives to something more... Fizz-like.

Kassadin

A substantial rework that gives the Spell Eater more tools for Spell Eating, heck... it gives him more to do, period.

Kha'Zix

A quality of life rework that changes isolation to utilize line of sight, as well as giving him tools to reduce his target's sight radius, rather than the current by-the-patch-radius.

A power redistribution rework that addresses when Nidalee does damage, particularly surrounding her Hunted innate.

Zed

A suite of changes intended to redistribute Zed's power between himself and his shadows.

Supports

Blitzcrank

A substantial rework that addresses Blitzcrank's severe lack of things to do while staying true to his fantasy of being a weaponized warehouse robot.

Lulu

A small scale rework to Pix that was inspired by Chang'e from SMITE.

Malzahar

Under construction. Largely focused on a themeatic shift away from a caster of purple magic to a Harbinger of Voidspawn.

Morgana

Under construction.

Janna

A moderately sized rework that bolsters Janna's unique position

Karma

Two reworks, one that explores a new theme as a self-sacrificing support inspired by Orion from Atlas Reactor; and a second that attempts to go back to her Dualism roots.

Sona

A moderate sized rework that takes cues from Overwatch's Lucio and League's own Jinx - changing the stance system to a toggle and giving her some actual abilities!

Soraka

Under construction.

Zilean

A substantial rework that plays off a Borrowed Time mechanic.

Aatrox

This rework absorbs features from Kindred (that I removed in her own rework) and Galio's recent rework to create a Dark Valkyrie.

Alistar

Under construction.

Galio

Under construction.

Maokai

Rolling back some of his Tank Update. How does giving him Nami's ultimate and removing him as a Warden make him a more unique tank?

Shen

Under construction.

Tahm Kench

Under construction.

Specialists

Cho'Gath

A substantial rework that turns Cho'Gath into the kaiju he was meant to be, including gaining more power against structures.

Elise

Part of my 7-Ability Champion Overhaul project. Under construction.

Heimerdinger

Inspired by Infinite Crisis' Lex Luthus, Heimerdinger's power has been redistributed to make him a more reactive defender.

Nunu

Part of my Mounted Champions Overhaul, this rework aims to address Nunu's stale gameplay as well as why the champion's called Nunu rather than Willump.

Shaco

A substantial rework inspired by the Mesmer class from Guild Wars. Less about having a single, powerful clone - Shaco's now all about creating dispellable illusions to distract his enemies and spare himself damage.

Teemo

Under construction.

Zyra

Exploring a new ultimate ability that pushes Zyra into the Defense specialist niche, as well as changes to her innate and W abilities.

Ballistic can turn anything he touches into a projectile that travels with bullet-like force. Using the battlefield itself as a resource, Ballistic must be constantly moving to find fresh debris. Taliyah before Taliyah.

Behemoth is a colossal champion, dwarfing even Galio. Behemoth is highly durable champion that falls somewhere between being a Juggernaut and a Warden, an incredible threat when left unchecked and a punishing enemy to bring down.

Clockblocker is a derivative of the superhero from the Worm universe. Clockblocker has the ability to freeze-in-time anything he comes into direct contact with - rendering it completely invulnerable and immovable.

Fer'Rox is a relaunch of my previous custom champion, Ferox the Deathless Prince, who was made redundant by the release of Rhaast. Fer'Rox owes his roots to the melee carries of olde, and was inspired by the off-meta AD Kassadin build that was patched many years ago.

Finn was created alongside Dirk to address the severe lack of pet-using champions. Many elements of his design happened to be implemented with Azir, including the general ability flow and proxy autoattacks.

Leviathan is a skirmisher that excels at dealing damage while moving, crushing his opponents under his momentum and quickly re-positioning to places he's previously been. While not ranking particularly high on damage, he is relentless and slippery.

Libra is, similar to Traditional Karma, a duality-themed champion with abilities that support both a Controller and Mage playstyle. However, unlike the traditional implementation of a duality-theme, Libra thrives when maintaining a balance - with her strength diminishing if she focuses too much on one aspect over the other.

Nex is witch who cast the spell of Ruination. A elemental of Death, Nex wields the Black Mist to consume her enemies and expends those souls within her to stave off death. The Maiden of the Mists somewhat supersedes Nex.

Role(s):

Release: 2013-04-18

Nighthawk the Winged Fury

Hookshot / Wall Dive dialled up to an entire champion. A wall-crawling predator that swoops from the shadows to fell the unprepared: Nighthawk challenges the basic mechanic of walking.

Created to meet the very shallow demand for an "ugly female humanoid monster" champion, Nostrilla was originally a Swamp Troll but was reworked with Trundle to fit the frost theme. Instead of decomposition, she now wields frostbite.

Po is Runeterra's counterpart to the Sandman, a creature from folklore that puts people to sleep and brings them good dreams. Well, that's Sandman's story any way. Po is a champion with unparalleled utility.

The League is represented by many champions that harness the power of lightning, but too few that realize the destructive force of sound. Thane provides a new frame of reference for the saying, "crack of doom".

Ziz oversees the game from vantage point, and aims to never put herself in harms way - else perish due to her vulnerability. Her powers include foresight, mind control and ability mimicry, allowing her to manipulate battles to her desired out-come.